Northern Soul: The Movie - want to join in?

Renowned photographer Elaine Constantine, director of new movie Northern Soul, grew up in Bury, living and breathing the music, the clothes and the clubs of the distinctive sub-culture.

The obsession never left her, in fact the remarkable impact of Northern Soul became a story she needed to tell on film.

Longridge and Whitehouse will be joined by Lisa Stansfield, James Lance, Christian Mckay, Ricky Tomlinson and Roisin Murphy with Steve Coogan also making an appearance.

“When Northern Soul exploded out of the North," Constantine says, "it touched young lives in a way that nothing had done before. It was spellbinding to witness; young lads, who never expressed themselves, were suddenly dancing with passion. As a young teenager, it gave me an overwhelming feeling of belonging and euphoria. It’s this same feeling of excitement and belonging to something different and special that I want to give to the audience of the film.”

Northern Soul

To this end Constantine has spent five years working with a script doctor to ensure that her project has authenticity and integrity but also appeals to an audience beyond the North of England. Constantine thinks this tale has global reach.

It probably does. It certainly will pull in the locals.

Earlier this year Confidential broke a story about the impending demolition of The Twisted Wheel club in Manchester, one of the key centres for the 1970s' Northern Soul scene. The story had more than 20,000 reads in a week, click here.

This film will no doubt tap into the appeal of this working class dance movement.

The cast has been hand-picked by Constantine, choosing unknown actors Elliot James Langridge and Josh Whitehouse to play the lead parts. Both have had to learn the complex dance moves of Northern Soul and the local accents

Longridge and Whitehouse will be joined by Lisa Stansfield, James Lance, Christian Mckay, Ricky Tomlinson and Roisin Murphy with Steve Coogan also making an appearance. The film is due for release Spring 2013.The film begins shooting in the North West in July and you can get involved - see yellow box below.

Anyone interested in participating in the filming should ideally have an understanding and appreciation of Northern Soul so that the 'feeling' is truly authentic, and of course, they should have a willingness to dance. The only pre-requisite is that participants are over 18 and register online via the website www.northernsoulthefilm.com - places will be issued on a first come first served basis.

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Oh really? Now kindly furnish me with the basis of your accusation that my comment was uninformed. You clearly have in your arsenal my entire cultural history, and an in depth understanding of my rationale!

The clip is there for us all to watch, as is the facility to comment. I did both.

Why has my reply to Bill James been deleted? There was absolutely nothing wrong with the content of it. It seems perfectly acceptable for Bill to accuse my post of being uninformed, but not for me to respond.

Looks pretty enticing to me. Realistically, the film has to strike a careful balance, so it conveys the genuine feeling, whilst at the same time being reasonably accessible to "muggles," and based on the trailer I'd say it is bang on in that respect. I'm even tempted to sign up as an extra. Do you think there will be room for us less "camera-friendly" old timers? Will there be comfortable chairs and refreshments?

it's good to see northern soul getting all this exposure, but lets not forget what it was really like back in the day, standing outside in the freezing cold waiting for the drunks to be ejected, stripping down to bare dance essentials then sweating in the intense humidity. freezing to death when there is a bomb scare (1970's) Tony Wilson & Anna Ford turning up thinking it is a trendy nightclub, when really it was a jealously guarded secret sub-culture. And no matter how good a dancer you were, or how good your musical knowledge was, you always looked up to the oldies who were twisted wheel vets, which is why I suppose, the monthly oldies allnighters were such a success. If TV wants to show it how it really was, then make sure it covers the heat, humidity, & the odd way that everyone dance facing the stage... Right on Brothers & Sisters & Keep the faith folks

Just watched Inspector Geoge gently - Gently Northern soul. Good music, good acoustics too, but why were ther people dancing at a so-called allnighter wearing jackets - methinks they were a little too overdressed for an NS all nighter